October 2016 Archived Blog Posts

‘Battlefield 1’ is a reverent homage to the first World War, but its marketing is far from that

This may sound cynical, but I never really expect video games to depict the grim realities of war with any respect or nuance. There just isn't any industry-wide precedent for it.

That's why it's such a pleasant surprise to hear that "Battlefield 1," which bucks trends by going back in time to World War I, manages to pull it off with some amount of grace. I haven't played the final game yet, but my colleague Ben Gilbert (as well as everyone else I've talked to) insists the game is refreshingly reverent of its setting.

Generally speaking, being the world’s largest online retailer is a good thing. Amazon’s ubiquity can tell you that.

Staying that big, though, can carry an equally massive cost. This chart from Statista shows it pretty well: Amazon’s net shipping costs have grown from $317 million a decade ago to more than $4.5 billion over the first three quarters of this year — before the holiday shopping season has even started.

Now, given how much Amazon’s profile has grown over that time, some rise is expected. A big chunk of that cost, though, is due to the service that’s

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel said Monday that "single-digit" millionaires had a tough time getting "effective access" to the US legal system.

Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and is a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist, took questions following his pro-Donald Trump address at The National Press Club. He was asked at length about his bankrolling the lawsuit against the website Gawker by wrestling star Hulk Hogan.

Gawker shut down as a result of the lawsuit, which was filed because the website published a sex tape involving Hogan.

"Let's start with the factors of the case," he said. "It involved a sex tape. If you make a sex tape with someone's permission, you're a pornographer. If you make a sex tape without permission ... you are a journalist. I would submit that as an insult to all journalists."

Automobile Mag first reported in August that BMW was working on Project iNext: the German automaker's commitment to release an all-electric car with self-driving capabilities by 2021. But Autocar reported for the first time on Monday that the Project iNext car will be an electric SUV.

Autocar cites sources who say that BMW has settled on an SUV bodystyle for its next model to accommodate the size of a battery pack without compromising on the car's proportions. BMW also settled on an SUV because it appeals to a segment with greater demand and profit margins than hatchbacks, according to the sources.

So here it is, the future of the MacBook Pro, and it's full of adapters.

The new MacBook Pros exclusively feature USB-C ports, which means your old USB accessories and peripherals wont plug into the new MacBook Pro without an adapter.

We're not particularly fond of adapters. They're "extra" bits to worry about, and add extra cost to connecting our old stuff, which cost no money to connect in the past.

It'll take some time until everyone eventually replaces their old accessories with new models that support USB-C. Until then, we've found a few that could ease the transition.

Check them out:

For the minimalist.

A single, clean, and simple USB-C to USB 3 adapter for the person who connects only one peripheral or accessory at a time to their laptop. You could also use it to plug in your regular multi-USB hub, too.

Cable TV price increases have beaten inflation every single year for 20 years

The pay TV industry is losing customers, but prices continue to climb.

In fact, for US cable TV in particular, price increases have outpaced inflation for every single one of the past 20 years, according to a recent FCC report surfaced by CordCutting.com. Every one!

In 1995, cable cost $22.35 per month, on average. In 2015, it was $69.03. And the climb has been steady. Here's a chart showing how prices have gone up:

Now, it does makes sense for prices to go up for goods like cable as long as there is inflation. But cable's increases are more than double that of inflation. On average, cable prices went up 5.8% yearly for the past 20 years. Inflation clocked in at 2.2% per year, on average.

The huge rise in global instability, keeping everyone awake at night, is characterized by senior military and diplomatic officials as the “most high-risk and unpredictable environment in their working lives.”

It’s all being driven by the hyper-connectivity revolution in communication, which can mean major consequences for the world of business as well as politics, as disparate rebels with an agenda can quickly turn a company into a cause celebre.

Gordon ‘Dee’ Smith runs private intelligence agency Strategic Insight Group and he has spent decades deciphering anomalies and hidden insights in the corporate landscape. In an exclusive interview with